variant, symptoms and how it is transmitted –

Monkeypox, the Mpox Clade I variant that appears to be more severe than Clade II, is in Europe. On Thursday, authorities in Sweden confirmed a first case of the new strain of “monkeypox”, after the WHO declared an international health emergency the day before. This is the first positive case outside the African continent.

But what is monkeypox and how is it transmitted? It is a zoonotic infection (transmitted from animals to humans) caused by a virus from the same family as smallpox (Poxviridae) but which differs from this in that it is less transmissible and the severity of the disease it causes, explains the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. The name comes from the first identification of the virus, discovered in monkeys in a Danish laboratory in 1958. It is widespread in particular among primates and small rodents, mainly in Africa. “In endemic areas it is transmitted to humans through a bite or direct contact with the blood, flesh, body fluids or skin lesions of an infected animal – the ISS reports on its website – The virus was first identified as a human pathogen in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since its discovery, human cases have been reported in several African countries. Currently the disease is endemic in Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana (only cases in animals), Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan”.

The virus “is not easily transmitted from person to person. Human transmission occurs mainly through contact with infected material from skin lesions or contaminated objects (sheets, clothes, etc.), or prolonged face-to-face contact (through respiratory droplets),” writes the ISS. Symptoms: Mpox presents with fever, muscle pain, headache, swollen lymph nodes, tiredness and skin manifestations such as vesicles, pustules, small scabs. The disease generally resolves spontaneously in 2-4 weeks with adequate rest and without specific therapies; antivirals may be administered when necessary. Up to now, most cases have had mild symptoms with a benign course. However, monkeypox can cause a more serious disease especially in some particularly fragile population groups such as children, pregnant women and immunosuppressed people.

EPIDEMIA MPOX – The infectious disease formerly known as monkeypox was first identified in humans in the DRC in 1970. There are two subtypes of the virus: clade I and clade II. The more lethal clade I has been endemic for decades in the Congo Basin in Central Africa. The less severe clade II has meanwhile been endemic in parts of West Africa. Until recent years, epidemics were mostly caused by people who had contracted the virus from infected animals such as rodents, for example by eating bushmeat. The virus rose to prominence in May 2022, when a new, less lethal strain called clade IIb spread across the world. According to the WHO, between January 2022 and June 2024, 208 deaths and more than 99,000 cases of Mpox were recorded in 116 countries.

THE NEW STRAIN – Unlike the global outbreak in 2022, the latest wave has been driven by the more lethal Clade I and its newly mutated variant. The new strain, called clade Ib, was first detected among sex workers in the remote mining town of Kamituga in the DRC’s South Kivu province in September 2023. Unlike previous outbreaks in the Central African country, the new strain was partly transmitted sexually, including between heterosexuals, researchers said. Spread through non-sexual contact between people, including children playing together at school, has also been recorded. Clade Ib causes death in about 3.6% of cases, although infants and children are most at risk, according to the WHO. It also causes more severe disease than clade II.

Almost all provinces in the DRC are now affected by clade I or clade Ib, Jean Claude Udahemuka, a researcher at the University of Rwanda who is studying the outbreak, told AFP. More cases of the virus were reported in the first half of this year, according to WHO data.
mpox than in all of 2023. Between January 2022 and August 4, there were 38,465 cases of mpox and 1,456 deaths in Africa, according to the Africa CDC. Most of the recent cases have occurred in the DRC. But in the last month, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda have reported their first cases of
mpox. According to WHO, clade Ib has been detected in all four countries, none of which have reported deaths.

VACCINES – During the global outbreak of smallpox in 2022, vaccines were rapidly distributed to wealthier regions like Europe and North America, helping to control the epidemic. But available vaccines have largely been left unavailable in African countries hardest hit by smallpox. On Tuesday, CDC Africa director Jean Kaseya announced an agreement with the European Union and pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic to supply and distribute 200,000 doses of smallpox vaccine across the continent. Kaseya acknowledged that Bavarian Nordic’s doses of chickenpox vaccine — which requires two shots per person — will not be enough. But there is a future plan to secure 10 million doses of vaccine for Africa, he told an online media briefing. Kaseya also noted that if Africa had received vaccine doses and support earlier, the number of cases would not be so high now.